Only Nixon could go to Rome
by skarosianlifeform
Summary: What if the Eurasian War started a bit differently ? AU. (Rating M, just to be sure).
1. Chapter 1

**The birth, the zenith and the fall of the Draka**

Many historians compare the rise of the United States of America and of the Domination of the Draka. There are, indeed, similarities. Both nations started out as British colonies, and became continent-spanning superpowers. Not to mention both nations were born through the same war. There are also many differences, the biggest being (obviously) that the Draka proved to be a paper tiger, while the Americans become Earth's first superpower.

Let's go back to the beginning. In 1783, Britain had lost the Thirteen Colonies, but gained the Cape Colony (from the Dutch). At the time it was a backwater. Britain relocated dozens of thousands of American Loyalists and Hessian mercenaries (with their families) to the colony, hoping to cement its control.

Soon, the new colony prospered, thanks to its key position (for trade and military), and exports of ivory, salt, hides, wood and (more importantly) slaves. Then, gold and diamonds were discovered. More and more colonists either worked in the mining industry, developed their farms, or plantations. And as the Drakan military expanded in quality and quantity, Britain and the BEIC relied more and more on its services (leading adventurous Europeans to enlist).

The colony became more and more populous through immigration and natality. During the French Revolution and Coalition Wars (1792-1815), and the Year Without Summer, combined efforts from the Drakia Company and charities led millions of refugees from Europe to Drakia. There were Émigrés from France and French-occupied countries. There were a lot of ordinary people who simply fled famine, war and repression (especially from Vendée and West Germany).

Then, there were the Gold and Diamond Rushes, and the booming of Drakan economy. People hoped to get a comfortable life with a house and slaves (and often indeed got it).

Drakia became a Dominion in 1840. At this time, the Draka were already autonomous in fact, being far from London, too strong and numerous to control. They were also too rich, strong and useful, so London didn't want to risk them following the example of the USA.

Britain had abolished the slave trade, and then slavery, leading the Draka to adopt "serfdom".  
There was a tacit agreement between London and Archona, the Draka being discreet about their serfdom and the British looking the other way. Abolitionists fought it, but the Draka had enough money and connections to beat them at the lobbying game.

The Draka, since the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, had taken over or bought all Dutch, French, Spanish and Portuguese colonies on the coasts of Africa. They had also conquered Egypt during this war.

The interior of Africa was hard to contro because of disease, but they slowly took control of the entire coasts, using any pretext they could (like border raids, piracy, debts, lapse doctrine...) to take over coastal states one after the other. The conquest of the Barbary States, Morocco, Oman-Zanzibar and Abyssinia were the first among many.

Britain was happy to take over Africa (through its dominion). Sure, it was not direct control, but in a way it was better. Costs and day-to-day problems laid at Archona's feet, not London's. Resources and money were flowing, while the British could feel proud of having the largest empire on Earth.

Drakan culture was fashioned by those circumstances. They were constantly in need of new land, resources and slaves, both for themselves and for trade. They saw themselves as an outpost of civilization, as the most faithful British subjects, but were annoyed at the British (who looked down upon their serfdom and customs, and wanted to control them, but were happy to reap benefits...). Being a white slaver minority conquering a hostile, disease-ridden continent, they developed an ideology centered on slavery, white supremacy, Manifest Destiny and Sparta-like militarism.

In the 1860s-1890ss, the advances in medicine finally allowed the Draka to "tame" the interior of Africa. At the same time, they drifted away from Britain. The Draka wanted more autonomy and equality. The British were leery of this too-powerful and too-large Dominion, and more and more disgusted by slavery. However, no British politicians wanted to risk a Draka revolt, or to cut the Draka from the Empire. It would have massively hurt Britain (and her elites) economically, and would have massively reduced their prestige, military and territory. Only communists, anarchists and other radicals openly advocated the dismantlement of the Dominion (which made the idea seem too radical). Moreover, at the end of the 19th century, Britain was more preoccupied by the Great Game (against Russia) and by its rivalry with Germany.

The more Britain was procrastinating, the more the Draka were expanding their demographics, their control of Africa, their military, industry and infrastructure.

Wilhelm I and Bismarck had made Germany the hegemon of continental Europe, beating France, and then creating an alliance with Italy, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. Sweden was also German-friendly. Germany had also the best ground forces of the world. Wilhelm II wanted Germany to rival Britain in terms of industry, navy and colonies (in Asia and Oceania), leading to repeated crises in the Samoa, China and Siam. At the same time, Russian and German/Austrian interests clashed in Balkans.

Britain responded by forming the Triple Entente with France and Russia (and quietly wooing Italy and Japan), leading to World War One.

The Draka didn't care much about their mother-nation in 1914, but jumped on the occasion (pretending to be loyal Imperial subjects). While the Entente was battling Germany and the Habsburg Empire in Poland and the West, the Draka invaded the Ottoman Empire, Persia and Bulgaria.

The Entente strongly objected to this. The Draka responded by declaring officially their independence from Britain, threatened to stop (vital) trade with France, Italy and the UK, and to join Germany's side. They could have, indeed, attacked Russia and India through Persia, or reinforced AH and Germany through the Balkans, so the threat was very real.

The Entente had to relent, and the Draka promised to respect the rights of Ottoman, Persian and Bulgarian subjects (who were not black after all). As reporters who infiltrated Draka territory in the Interwar discovered, those promises were a lie...

In 1918, the Draka entered the Versailles Peace Conference as an independent nation. The first crisis happened when Bulgarian, Turkish, Arab and Zionist representatives were allowed into the conference (to the displeasure of the Draka).

Then, the Draka, in 1919, launched their invasions of Afghanistan, Central Asia and Xinjiang, under the pretext of restoring order and fighting communism. Entente powers were themselves intervening in Russia, so they couldn't oppose this move. Then, it became clear that the Draka were taking control of the new territories, and all talks broke down. The Draka walked out. There were (empty) threats of war and embargo. France and the UK were too exhausted militarily and economically (and too preoccupied with Russia and Germany) to follow through, while the USA re-entered isolationism and Russia (after two civil wars) became the "Hermit Kingdom".

The Domination of the Draka became an isolationist state, with heavy industrialization, military and scientific development, and jingoistic propaganda (other countries didn't have much intelligence on what was happening there).

The Draka now hated and despised the Europeans, Russians and Americans. They saw them as under Jewish control, racially weak (Slavs were "half-Asians", South Italians were "half Arabs", Americans were corrupted by "Negroes and Jews" and so on) and culturally weak. Westerners had balked at Draka atrocities for decades and tried to keep the moral high ground, while doing nothing (because they were greedy cowards). And now, finally, they tried to strangle and encircle the Domination.

The Draka were getting ready to fight mongrel Americans, savage Japanese, decadent Europeans and communist Russians, all at once, to prove that they were the Master Race. They were wrong.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Rising Sun  
**  
After the Napoleonic Wars, there was hunger for new markets and colonies. Britain (or rather, Drakia) had locked Africa from outside access, so greedy eyes turned to Asia and Oceania. The main rivals of Britain were France and Netherlands, joined (during the 19th century) by Germany, Russia and the USA. Japan had been an exclusive trade partner of Netherlands for centuries, but it was to end.

In 1825, the Lambert Expedition forcefully "opened" Japan to the outside world (for France), and was followed by expeditions from Britain, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Prussia, Spain, Portugal and the USA. Japan was totally humiliated, leading to the Imperial Restoration Era (also called the Nara Era). Japan entered an era of modernization in all areas (administration, military, science, universities, infrastructure, industry), with British support (to counter French, German and Russian influence).

The 19th century also saw the downfall of China. The first cracks appeared in 1795, with the First Miao Rebellion, and 1796, with the White Lotus Rebellion. Those rebellions got support from revolutionary France, who hoped to spread revolution in Asia (and to use China as an ally against Russia and British India). The Qing only managed to crush them in 1810, but were exhausted. Then, the Forbidden City and the Qing Dynasty fall in 1813 with the Eight Trigrams Rebellion.

Li Wencheng, the leader of the Eight Trigrams, proclaimed himself Emperor, but failed to impose his authority, leading to a long civil war between the Wencheng, the Qing, the Ming and local warlords (with Russia, France, UK and other countries supporting their favorites). As the civil war progressed, Europe came knocking, forcing unequal treaties and concessions between 1820 and 1830. Russia took control of Xinjiang and Mongolia. Britain took control of Tibet. More importantly, there were the Treaty Ports.

Russia supported the Qing, who managed to retake control of the country in 1844, finally crushing the (restored) Ming and the Wencheng. However, Russia was defeated in 1853, in the Crimean War, leaving the Qing Empire without a patron. Immediately, the Taiping Rebellion erupted in 1854. The Taiping were protestant and had a bizarre ideology, which seemed more modern than the Qing. They got sympathy from British and American opinion, and were quietly supported by London, Archona and Washington. At the same time, there were other rebellions (Miao and Nian).

The result was that the Qing authority was reduced to Manchuria, while the Taiping, Nian and Miao rebels battled for the rest of China. The Taiping quickly become unpopular, because they tried to force a version of Christianity upon China, were corrupt, inefficient and brutal, leading to dozens of millions of deaths. China was soon fractured into warlord states, most of them being nominally aligned with the Taiping. The Draka took advantage of the situation, buying "volunteer" identured workers in exchange for weapons, ammunition, food and medicine, which they sold to all factions (keeping the civil war going).

Japan took advantage of the situation, through an alliance and a dynastic union between Manchuria and Japan (with Japan being the dominant partner, of course). The next step was taking control of Korea. In 1877 and 1882, Japan forced unequal treaties on Korea. In 1894, Japan (with Manchu assistance) intervened in Korea to crush the Donghak Rebellion. In 1905, Japan annexed Korea. Of course, Japanese expansionism clashed with Russian and German interests, leading to the Russo-German Ultimatum of 1895 and the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, a resounding victory for Japan.

During the WWI, Japan aligned itself with the Entente, taking over German treaty ports (in China) and Pacific colonies (New Guinea, Micronesia and Samoa). Japanese were also allowed to take over Siam (as a protectorate), because neither France nor UK wanted the other to have it. In 1917, Russia crumbled, while the Draka declared their independence and threatened to switch sides. Japan's support (soldiers on the Western Front, joint intervention in Russia, IJN deployment, and Manchu workers) was _needed_. So, Japan got a free hand in China from the Entente. The Siberian Intervention allowed Japan to take over Eastern Siberia (all the way to Lake Baikal) and Mongolia as protectorates.

Russia was too busy with its civil wars, famines and crises to dislodge Japan, allowing the Empire to focus on China. The 1920s decade saw the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China rising against the Taiping and the warlords (and soon, against each other as well), starting a new round of civil war. In 1927, Japan took advantage of this situation, making the Taiping and warlords their vassals, while intervening directly against the communists and nationalists.

Ironically, Japanese troops were often welcomed well by Chinese people. They were disciplined, while warlord, KMT and communist armies were often not. Japan brought order, peace, medicine and food.

Japan was getting, slowly, richer from the resources of China and Siberia, but was also spending too much, too fast, in its military. The IJA had to be extremely large, to guard a large border with Russia, keep control of Siam, Eastern Siberia, Mongolia, Manchuria and Korea, and conquer China. The IJN was enlarged as well, both agencies being notoriously rivals.

Japan made good use of her colonies. Japanese school system was expanded to Korea, China and Siam, teaching loyalty to people and creating intellectual and administrative elites. Mines, railroads, roads and factories were built and expanded daily. It allowed Japan to constantly expand and upgrade its army, navy and air force.

However, there still were tensions. Japanese rule on China was enforced by  
(1) the IJA and Kempeitai, that were hated  
(2) Buddhist zen missionaries, and their converts (unoffcially priviledged)  
(3) Ethnic and religious minorities (Hui, Manchus, Ma, Miao, Mongols...)  
(4) Administrative and intellectual elites.

Those groups overlapped a lot. Of course, the bulk of the Han peasants were not really happy with being dominated by non-Han people, or priviledged Hans that espoused Japanese values.

Moreover, modernization projects were built on the backs of Han peasantry, who were routinely displaced, conscripted to work or in the military.

They accepted this new order because it brought peace and development, but tensions still simmered. Japanese propaganda, at least, managed to paint the whites (Westerners, Soviets and Draka) as predators who ruined and carvet out China, which was mostly true. Japan appeared as an Asian brother and protector.

Japan nominally remained an ally of Britain and the USA, but the alliance was _very_ strained and hollow. London and Washington were not happy about Japan taking control of China (and locking them out), so they supported the Nationalists, and threatened Japan with embargoes (using Japanese atrocities as a pretext). Those threats never went very far, though. London and Washington had bigger fish to fry : the Germans, the Soviets, and the Draka. They didn't want Japan allying with either of them, and they did want Japan to (at least) counter Soviet and Draka expansion in Asia.

Japan did, indeed, check the Soviets and Draka. The three powers battled each other in hundreds of border incidents in Mongolia, Siberia and Xinjiang in the 1920s and 1930s, while the USSR supported the CCP and left-KMT in China.

As the Eurasian War was coming close, Japan would have to choose between the Northern Option (favored by the IJA) and the Southern Option (favored by the IJN).

AN : OTL, the White Lotus and Miao were crushed in 1804 and 1806, and the Eight Trigrams were a short, failed rebellion. The Taiping Revolt started earlier, in 1850, OTL. Butterflies.


	3. Chapter 3

**The road to war  
**  
Not everyone was happy with the Treaty of Versailles. Of course, Germany was furious and humiliated... and then crushed under reparations (and the Ruhr Crisis). Italy had won the war, but her expectations (under the Treaty of London) had not been met. Italy had received Tyrol, but not Fiume, Dalmatia and Istria. Italy had received influence over Albania (sans Kosovo and Epirus), but not Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, which had been included in the Yugoslav Kingdom. And, of course, Italy had not received the southern coast of Anatolia (since the Draka had invaded the Ottoman Empire, ignoring all agreements between Entente members). The "mutilated victory", and the political and economical turmoil in Italy, led to the March on Rome, and the establishment of Fascism.

Eastwards, the Soviet Union had emerged from the First Russian Civil War, after the victory on the Whites, in 1923. However, the country had lost Central Asia and Xinjiang (to the Draka), and Mongolia and Eastern Siberia (to the Japanese). The 1920 Polish-Soviet War ended in a resouding Polish victory, and the formation of the Commonwealth of Warsaw, which included Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine. Northwards, Finland had taken its independence and annexed Eastern Karelia. The Soviet Union was almost reduced to Russia, ruined, and humiliated. Under Stalin, the Soviet Union became the "Hermit Kingdom". Stalin thought that everyone was hostile to his country, and it was understandable, after Brest-Litovsk, the Western, Draka and Japanese interventions. However, the Hermit Kingdom also meant that Russia remained devastated by the Spanish Flu and famine, even as other countries were recovering.

From 1930, Stalin tried to modernize Soviet Union through forced collectivization, leading to the Famine of 1933 and the Green Revolution (led by self-defence peasant militias). The Red Army failed to quell the peasant rebellions, and most of the officers and soldiers weren't very motivated to fight their own people. They hated Stalin, the Red Guard and the NKVD too. That led to the Great Purges in 1936 and 1938. Russia was going from disaster to disaster.

Germany and Italy were marching to war. Italy wanted to restore the Roman Empire, by establishing influence over Iberia and the Balkans. Germany (under Hitler) wanted to emulate the Draka. Hitler, himself, was massively inspired by Elvira Naldorssen. The Draka, the British and the Americans were his models : Aryan nations that had conquered continents, taming or destroying inferior races. However, Hitler saw the Americans (and British) as corrupted by the Jews, "Negroes", Latinx, Slavs and other inferior groups (especially the Jews). The Draka, on the other hand, remained racially and culturally pure. Hitler dreamed that Germany and the Draka would rule the world together, with Germany establishing her dominion over Europe and her Lebensraum in Eastern Europe (all the way to the Urals).

In 1931, as the UK and the USA threatened Japan with sanctions, Japan declared that the Anglo-Japanese Alliance was ended. There were no sanctions or serious threats, however, given that both sides were more focused on the Draka and Soviet than each other. In 1933, Hitler was elected in Germany. In 1934, the Ustase assassinated the King of Yugoslavia, leading to the Yugoslav Civil War (Italy warned the Draka from taking advantage of the situation). In 1936, Germany stopped paying her reparations and remilitarized Rhenania. Italy, Germany and Portugal supported directly Franco, leading to his quick victory in Spain. In 1937, Mussolini supported the Metaxas Coup. Then, Greece joined Italy in a personal union, and in a customs, monetary, diplomatical and military union. The New Roman Empire was born. Greeks accepted it reluctantly, because they were scared of the Draka next door. In 1938, there was the Anschluss and the Sudeten Crisis. In 1939, Germany took control of Czechia, while Slovakia became an "independent" vassal. Italy took over Albania, which joined the New Roman Empire as well.

There was no formal alliance, but a loose friendship was emerging between Germany, Italy and Japan (or rather, the Third Reich, the New Roman Empire and the Co-Prosperity Sphere), with Spain, Hungary and Slovakia gravitating around.

In September 1939, World War II started over Poland.


	4. Chapter 4

In 1939, Germany and Soviet Union jointly invaded the Commonwealth of Warsaw. Soviet Union invaded Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania, while Germany invaded Poland. France and the UK declared war on Germany. The German invasion was a total success, but the Soviets immediately got bogged down against guerillas in Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania. As if it was not enough, Stalin would launch the Winter War against Finland. Those wars made Stalin even more unpopular, and Soviet Union even weaker.

Italy took advantage of the situation to force her protectorate over Yugoslavia, which was split between Croatia (Ustase), Serbia (under Nedic), Montenegro and Slovenia. Italy directly annexed Fiume, Istria and Dalmatia. Then, Mussolini supported the Antonescu / Iron Guard coup in Romania.

As of February 1940, the New Roman Empire encompassed all the Balkans except for Bulgaria. The West had to tolerate Soviet and Italian expansionism.

In April 1940, Britain and France launched Plan R4, a preemptive intervention in Norway, to seize Narvik and the Swedish iron ore minefields. The result was that Norway, Sweden and Denmark all declared war on the Entente, joining Germany. In May 1940, Germany launched her invasion of the Low Countries. Italy and Spain joined the war. In June, it was France which was invaded, leading to the Armistice of the 22 June 1940.

As Hitler passed through Paris, he was informed that someone had come to meet him, at the Draka embassy. Archon Palma herself. She came to Paris incognito (disguised as a Draka diplomat), because she wanted a secret meeting. She talked at length with Hitler, which was easy because their ideas were close. At the end of their meeting, a secret pact had been concluded.

Germany and the Domination would launch a joint invasion of the Soviet Union, with the Draka taking the east of the Urals, and the Germans taking the west.

The Draka would provide the Germans with lend-lease, making sure they didn't lack weapons, ammunition or oil.  
In return, the Draka would be allowed to conquer Italy and her empire (in the Balkans). Hitler was happy with this pact. He never really liked Mussolini and the Italians anyway. They had joined the Central Powers, only to turn on them in 1915. They had kept their options open, and only jumped in the war last-minute (while still making unreasonable demands), in May 1940.

Hitler was even happier after signing the Armistice (with France). And then, he died of a seizure.

OOC : This is the POD.


	5. Chapter 5

The death of Hitler in June 1940 allowed Hermann Goering to succeed him as the Führer. Goering learnt of the Hitler-Palma Pact, and was appalled. Invading jointly the Soviet Union actually made sense. Göering knew that, even in its incredibly weakened state, the Soviet Union was still a dangerous enemy. Because of the Soviet numbers, because Germans would have to control 100 million people and occupy an extremely large territory (in horrific logistical conditions). As long as Britain was in the war, the USA might join too (and Soviet Union might backstab Germany later), and Germany was in a dangerous position.

What appalled Goering was that Hitler had allowed the Draka to take over Italy and the New Roman Empire (in the Balkans). While Göering understood the annoyance with the Italians, letting the Draka have a large foothold in Europe was stupid. Germany alone was to dominate Europe. And the Draka, like the Germans, were a Master Race, which meant that they would try to conquer Germany if they sensed weakness. Thinking about it, Göering realized that, since the Draka had existed, they had been incredibly lucky. Other powers (especially the UK) had never opposed them and had always done what they needed to expand. Like they were protected by gods (Göering snickered at this thought). Well, HE would not dance their tune.

Göring met secretly with Mussolini in the Alps, and informed him that the Draka were planning to invade Italy. He didn't tell him that Hitler had actually accepted, and presented this as if Germany had always wanted to set a trap for the Draka. Mussolini suspected the truth, but seized the opportunity to ambush the Snakes nonetheless. The Draka attack was supposed to come once the Soviet Union was done. Italy would start to prepare immediately (ostensibily to be "an equal to Germany", playing their rivalry as a pretext).

On 3 July 1940, the British attacked the French, to sink four of their seven battleships, in Brest. They only managed to sink two. Otto Abetz (who was very supportive of Vichy France-Germany Collaboration) seized the opportunity, convincing Göring. Thus, Germany offered an immediate peace treaty to France. France would lose Alsace and Moselle, while the east and north of the country would be demilitarized. But France would not be under occupation (Germans and French would defend jointly the Atlantic coast, though). France would not have to pay reparations, and her prisoners of war would go home. France would sell Indochina to Japan.

There was one key condition : France would declare war on Britain (and join in during Barbarossa). Under the pretext of the Brest attack. Thus, Britain would face a coalition of Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

On 6 July 1940, Pétain accepted, and secured his place in history as the "Savior of France".


	6. Chapter 6

**The impact of WWII on LGBT and women's rights  
**  
LGBT Rights

Draka culture tolerated bisexuality, homosexuality and adultery, among males and females, as long as people had enough children. Lesbians, gays and bisexuals didn't even have to hide. There was a darker aspect : Draka women were allowed to rape and sexually abuse female slaves, and Draka men to abuse male (and female) slaves.

This, and the fact that the Draka had mostly abandoned Christianism, made them look even more depraved and barbarian to the Westerners.

In the Third Reich, homosexuality was forbidden, but there were notorious gays among the Nazi establishment, like Ernst Röhm. And thanks to their influence, the Nazi State practiced a policy of "don't ask, don't tell" in Germany, allowing most of the bi and homosexuals to live quietly.

Of course, the Allies would use homophobia and biphobia as propaganda tools against the Draka and the Nazis for decades, talking as if there were only straight people in Allied countries. In the USA, the Temperance League (mostly protestant) and the Catholic League (prevalent in Québec and Mexico) would use this to spread anti-LGBT hate for the rest of the century.

Women's rights

There were two countries where women's rights had advanced much : the Domination of the Draka, and the Reich. The Draka had given almost full equality to their (citizen) women. The only measures that still discriminated against women were those forbidding sexual relations with male slaves (while Draka men could sleep with female slaves if they wanted), and that abortion was forbidden (Drakan were natalists). And it was widely accepted (including by women themselves), to protect racial purity and order. The Draka had a female Archon (Edwina Palma), and followed the ideology of another woman (Elvira Naldorssen). Draka women fought, too.

Hitler and many Nazi dignitaries were convinced that Germany should go the same road, giving Aryan women more equal rights, so they could contribute fully for the Race. So, the Reich gave women voting rights (which didn't count for much...), the right to be elected, to work without authorization (from their husband), to own property, to do any sports and to serve in the armed forces. The highest echelons of the Nazi Party remained made up of males, but German women were empowered by Nazism.

The unfortunate result was that, in the Allied countries, feminism and LGBT rights movements would be (unfairly) associated with hardcore racism, the Draka and the Nazis. And feminists would often be called _feminazis_.


	7. Chapter 7

In October 1940, a firefight erupted at the border of the Hong Kong concession, between the IJA (that was pursuing KMT members) and the British Army. An overzalous Japanese commander ordered his troops to enter the city with or without the British consent, leading the _HMS_ _Ark_ to fire on the _Yashima_. The Battle of Hong Kong was stopped through diplomatic channels. However, the damage was done.

British, Dutch and Japanese forces were put on high alert in Asia and the Pacific. The USA and the Commonwealth put embargoes on Japan. A wave of racist aggressions targeted the Japanese-American community, especially in California, Hawaii, British Columbia and Alaska. Francis Fukuyama, the Vice-Mayor of Vancouver, was assassinated.

While there were public demonstrations in Japan, the proponents of the "Southern Option" pushed their case...


	8. Chapter 8

Admiral Yamamoto knew that it was not in Japan's interests to fight Britain, even less to fight the USA. He actually _liked_ American culture.

He seethed about their support of the KMT and embargoes as much as anyone else, but he also knew that the Empire could easily go around the embargoes (through Latin America) or even be autarkic. And that American and Commonwealth businesses would get the embargoes repealed sooner or later.  
Yamamoto saw the Soviets and the Draka as the true threat.

However, the "Southern Option" supporters (led by Tojo) were gaining traction in the elites and the public. Instead of letting them do something incredibly stupid on their own, Yamamoto decided to preempt their move.

He proposed a strategy aimed at removing British influence from China and SE Asia, without risking a war with the USA.

1 ) Launching a PR campaign towards the USA.

Highlighting similarities between the USA and Sphere of Coprosperity, as federal nations built against outside colonial empires.

Highligting the similarities between the Monroe Doctrine and the Yamamoto Doctrine.

Show that Japan had brought peace, medicine, food, schools and happiness to people in China, Indochina and Siam.

Show the success of Japan against communist movements.

Paint the British as imperialists who support terrorists in China, from their Treaty Ports. Use any incidents, fabricate them if needed.

The PR campaign was enough to sow doubt in the American public. Enough doubt that the USA would not declare war first.

2 ) Later, invade the Treaty Ports, Tibet (under British influence), Myanmar, Malaya and Singapore. Paint this as "liberation".

Japan would NOT try to invade India, to avoid overstretch.  
Japan would NOT make moves near Australia (attacking a white country would make them "monsters"), the DEI or Filipinos (under US control). They would reassure Australia, NZ and the US about their lack of hostile intentions.

The Yamamoto Compromise would make the IJN hardliners busy and happy, allow Japan to control Tibet (and be in a better position against Draka Xinjiang), and give real-life training to the IJA, IJAAF and IJN against a modern opponent.

It would also make Japanese rule more popular in China (through the "liberation" of Tibet and Treaty Ports), and Japan look stronger in China.


	9. Chapter 9

Germany had hoped for a quick peace with Britain after defeating France, and then, when France switched sides. It was not to be.

Germany could field 2,700 planes, Italy, France and Spain a total of 3,400. Göring chose to avoid (as much as possible) bombings against civilians, he preferred to destroy the RAF by targeting airfields and factories.

The Battle of Britain would be a long, grinding battle of attrition, going on from August 1940 to February 1941.

Britain had one major advantage : downed British pilots and planes could often be recovered. However, the Axis also had a major advantage : they largely outproduced Britain, replacing their losses faster. So the attrition gradually favored the Axis.

Germany had another ace : U-boat wolfpacks. They were extremely numerous, being produced througout Europe and Soviet Union. Göring had outsourced production of Bismarck-class battleships and U-boats to the Soviets (who couldn't threaten Germany on sea anyway), in exchange for them getting the technology.  
U-boat wolfpacks would, slowly, strangle Britain.

Other grim news for Britain were the fall of Malta and Gibraltar, thanks to coordinated Italian, Spanish, French and German efforts.

Morale was lowering in Britain.


	10. Chapter 10

On 27th December 1940, there was another major incident near Hong Kong, where dozens of Japanese soldiers were killed. Right after KMT bombings.

The incident (and dozens of similar incidents earlier) had been secretly engineered by Tokyo, and were used as a pretext to declare war.

Hong Kong and the other Treaty Ports were immediately assaulted, and forced to surrender. An IJA expedition entered Tibet and got the alliegeance of the Dalai Lama (almost no combat would happen there).

The Japanese simultaneously invaded Myanmar (from the north and east) and Malaya (from Siam and the sea). Commonwealth resistance was stiff. However, Japan had numbers, air and sea power, tank and infantry tactics, morale and support of (part of) the locals on their side. Britain couldn't focus on this conflict, having to fight Germany and watch the Draka (at the Indian border).

The Fall of Singapore was the largest British surrender in history. It was also the straw that broke the camel's back, leading Britain to seek terms with the Axis in February 1941.


	11. Chapter 11

Germans had invaded the Channel Islands on 28th June 1940, and then, handed them over to France. They had little strategic value, but they had symbolic value : the only British territory under Axis occupation. They also served to create bad blood between Britain and France.

On 14th November 1940, the RAF carried a raid against the Renault and Panhart-Levasseur factories, near Paris. However, bad weather led the RAF to accidentally bomb Paris itself, killing thousands. Moreover, a downed British plane crashed on the Eiffel Tower.

France retaliated by launching a terror raid on Plymouth (from Guernesey). This initiated a cycle of terror raids. British attacked Brest, Saint-Malo, Le Havre, Caen, Arras, Lille and Calais repeatedly. French did the same on Plymouth, Exeter, Bornemouth, Portsmouth and Canterbury. There were downed pilots lynched by civilians.

The Regia Aeronautica, eager to prove an equal to the Luftwaffe, adopted the same strategy as the Armée de l'Air.

When British met French and Italians on the ground (Axis invasion of Malta and Gibraltar, British liberation of Channel Islands), fighting was actually more ferocious than against Germans.

France and Britain would see each other as perfidious backstabbers and hate each other for decades. Since they had been friends since 1904, there were of course lots of British-French marriages, children and friendships, leading to many personal tragedies.


	12. Chapter 12

In February 1940, Churchill was ousted from Downing Street, and Britain sought terms.

Germany offered simple terms.

British Home Fleet would not be allowed to have higher numbers than the combined Axis navies (German, French, Spanish and Italian). Indian and Pacific fleets, and Dominion fleets (Canada, Australia, NZ) would be limited as well

Britain abandoned Gibraltar (to Spain) and Malta (to Italy), but regained the Channel Islands

Britain acknowledged Italian protectorate over Albania, Yugoslavia, Greece and Romania

Britain acknowledged Japanese control over China, Indochina, Siam, Myanmar and Malaya

Britain acknowledged German control over Poland and Czech Republic

Britain, bereft of other options, accepted those terms. The war was over, but the Great Game was about to start...


	13. Chapter 13

Stalin utterly hated Finland. During the Interwar, the Draka had offered Finland enough material (tanks, infantry weapons, planes, ammo reserves, anti-air defences) to resist a Soviet attack, along with training. The Draka did this _for_ _free_. It was actually a good move, because Stalin (being paranoid) saw Finland as another enemy determined to destroy Russia and diverted troops to the Finnish border.

Finnish control of Eastern Karelia put Leningrad in a potentially precarious position, and was further humiliation.

Expecting the Germans and/or the Draka to attack through Finland one day, Stalin launched an invasion of Finland.

The Red Army had deployed 998,000 men. Despite its numerical superiority, the Red Army was initially defeated at Petrodavodsk and Vyborg. After invading Karelia, the Red Army was once again stopped and defeated at Murmansk, Nautsi, Petsamo, Salla, Rate and Kumo. Stalin kept sending new troops to those fronts, until the Soviets won through superior numbers and attrition. Southwards, a Soviet offensive broke itself on the Manerheim Line.

Norway, Sweden and Denmark declared war on Soviet Union, leading to a Scandinav counter-offensive, that reached Leningrad.

Scandinavs should not have taken the city... militarily speaking. However, they offered all Soviet defectors a life of comfort and freedom, leading to instant mutinies and mass desertions among Red Army units. Political commissars were often murdered... and a few commissars (who, despite being communist, had enough of Stalin too) defected themselves. The problem got so bad that all Soviet gains were negated and Leningrad fell.

Fearing a nation-wide revolt, Stalin signed the Peace of Riga, going back to status quo ante bellum (except for civilians and soldiers that were allowed to leave Soviet Union for Scandinavia).

The Winter War weakened further the Soviet Union, leading to a trickle of defections to Japan or to the Ukrainian Resistance, and a renewal of Green rebellions.


	14. Chapter 14

Soviet Union was born in crisis, and had then gone from one disaster to another.

At the beginning, Soviets lost the south-east of Siberia, Central Asia, Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Baltic countries and Finland. As soon as 1919, there were three anti-Bolshevik interventions, led by the West, the Draka and Japan.

The Russian Civil War opposed the Reds to various factions (Monarchists, Constitutional-Democrats, Mensheviks/Right SRs, Anarchists, unaligned warlords), supported by either the West, Japan or the Domination. The Western intervention was limited (occupying Kamtchatka, supporting Finland and Poland, protecting Caucasus). Westerners didn't have the will for a full-scale war in Russia, their main reason to be there was to contain the Domination, Japan and their puppets...

The Reds only won because their enemies were divided (their foreign patrons playing proxy war), seen as foreign agents, and even more brutal and unpopular than themselves.

Foreign intervention stopped in 1923. Poland created the Commonwealth of Warsaw, Finland annexed Karelia, and both threw the Whites under the bus, in exchange for Soviet recognition of their gains. The Draka couldn't sustain a war in Russia anymore, not while transitioning to autarky (after the split with Britain) and "pacifying" the Middle East. Japan was forced to stop by the Kanto earthquake.  
The West was exhausted by World War I, and secretly happy to pull out of Russia. As soon as the Draka and Japanese pulled out, the Westerners followed.

That allowed the Red Army to win for good in 1925 against all White factions. Despite the Whites receiving foreign weapons.

However, Russia was in a desperate state. It had been at war for nine years. Since 1918, there had been the Red Famine, caused by food requisitions, looting, displacement of population and scorched earth tactics. There was also pandemics. Not only the Spanish Flu, but the return of cholera, typhus, plague and other diseases.

And finally, there were the Green militias, made up of rebel peasants, opposed to both Whites and Reds. The Soviet government had to maintain war communism, to rebuild the nation and to develop the militaro-industrial complex (to stand up to Draka and other threats). The Greens were really fed up of the Reds. No compromise could be found.

The result was that, instead of focusing immediately on fighting hunger, disease and homelessness, the Soviet government spent three years methodically eradicating Green militias, using organized famine, chemical and biological weapons, and air bombing (with balloons).

At the end of 1928, Soviet Union had lost between 27 and 63 millions of lives. And hadn't really began to rebuild yet.

As dust finally settled, Stalin initiated his policy of forced industrialization and collectivization, leading to the Famine of 1933 and the Second Green Rebellion. The Red Army didn't have much will to fight the Greens (nor success). Economic success wasn't there either.

So, Stalin convinced himself that Russia was full of traitors and saboteurs, leading to the Purges of 1935-1941. Of course, those purges only made the political and economical situation worse.

In 1936, the Second Civil War officially began, with a coup led by Tukatchevsky (who was about to be purged). He created the "Salvation Council". Salvation forces were finally beaten in 1938, while the Purges continued. After the Second Civil War, the Red Army was put under complete control of the NKVD and the Red Guard.

The invasion of Ukraine, Belarus and Baltic countries saw the Soviets bogged down against a fanatical guerilla (joined by many Russian defectors). The Winter War further fragilized Russia and its government.

Russia would exit the Interwar technologically, scientifically and militarily backwards, deprived of competent cadres, and utterly hating its own government.

The only project that succeeded was the Voroshilov Line, which protected the Draka border in Central Asia (emulating the Maginot Line). Building, maintaining and manning the Line costed the lives of millions of workers, and forced Stalin to neglect almost everything else, but it was done.

After his non-aggression treaties with Germany and Japan (1939), Stalin also massed the bulk of Soviet armored corps, elite forces and air forces in the south, near the Draka border. This would be his one good decision during his rule.


	15. Chapter 15

Operation Barbarossa is one of the largest military operations carried in the history. Germany deployed 3 million men. The New Roman Empire (Italy, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Albania, Greece and Romania) deployed 1,3 million men. France deployed 1 million men. Spain and Portugal deployed 1 million men. On the northern front, the Scandinavian Alliance deployed 1 million men. Hungary and Slovakia, in total, deployed 300,000 men, while Netherlands and Belgium contributed 50,000 men. In total, the European Axis had 7,6 million men. _Not counting the Vlasov Army_ (1 million men). They also had 13,000 tanks, 9,000 aircraft and 10,000 artillery pieces.

Germany, even with the help of her allies and vassals, should not have been able to provide weapons, ammunition, food, water, medicine and clothing for so many men. Let alone the tanks, armored vehicles, planes and artillery pieces, the transportation vehicles, and the fuel.

At least, not in May 1941 (four months after the Treaty of Antwerp). It was only possible thanks to the Draka, who happily equipied Germany and her allies. The Draka were planning on invading Italy and her protectorates soon (and later, Germany and her allies / vassals). But they, precisely, counted on the Axis being busy in the East, and not expecting any attack from them. They wanted the Germans to reach the Urals, so they would overstretch themselves. They also wanted the Soviets to be utterly destroyed by the German-led invasion, because if it was not the case, the Voroshilov Line might remain an unassaillable obstacle. Not to mention, Germany would let them invade Italy, but only in return for their logistical and material help. So, the Draka took the calculated risk of arming their enemies.

Germany and Italy took a risk of their own. They managed to spread fake (inflated) numbers of their forces engaged on the Eastern front, so the Draka would underestimate their strength in Western Europe, and the Soviets would believe the Axis stronger than it was (and be more inclined to capitulate). But let's go back to May 1941.

The hammer dropped on Soviet Union, from not only the Germans and their European allies, but the Draka and the Japanese as well.

Despite their little southern adventure, Japan's focus remained north. Japan and Russia were rivals since the 19th century, enemies since the War of 1905 and the Japanese expansion in Siberia (1923). Hundreds of border incidents happened during the Interwar between the two, a fact not helped by their _long_ shared border. Japan saw Russia as propagating communism and dissent in China, Korea, Indochina, and worse, the Home Islands themselves.

The Empire of Japan deployed 1,7 million Japanese soldiers, 4 million Chinese soldiers, and 2 million of other soldiers (coming from Siam, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Malaya and Myanmar). They, as well as the Germans, wanted to destroy the Soviet Union in one offensive.

German and Japanese invasions were a semi-surprise to the Soviet Union. Stalin had wanted to believe in the non-aggression pacts with Tokyo and Berlin, but part of him remained paranoid about attacks. And of course, the NKVD noticed the preparations. Still, the German and Japanese borders were unprepared, for several reasons.

One, Soviet Union had concentrated its defence on the Draka border (in Central Asia), in terms of numbers of soldiers and of equipment.

Two, the forces left on other borders were made up of unexperienced young conscripts and (too) old veterans. Stalin didn't want his best officers or his elite forces to defect or plot against him. He knew that the Draka threat would motivate them to remain faithful, and that _nobody would defect to the Draka_. Moreover, the Draka threat was genuinely the worst of the three. So, logically, Stalin put only low-quality forces to face Japan and Germany.

Three, Stalin put tight political control over his officers and troops everywhere (including Far East and West), but on the Draka border, where he recognized that officers would need initiative (without political commissars interfering) in case of war. And, as said before, he "trusted" those officers to not plot or defect. On borders with Germany, the NRE (Romania), Scandinavia or Japan, though, political control was tight (there _were_ lots of defections), crippling officers' efficiency and authority.

Four, Stalin wanted to believe that the Germans would not betray him, and this hampered preparations.

Five, Soviet Union's equipment and troops were inferior to the Germans and Japanese, both in numbers and quality.

The result was that German-led and Japanese invasions would face very badly prepared Soviet armies.

The Draka attack was actually expected, hence the building of the Voroshilov Line and the massing of 14 millions of soldiers (including Soviet elite forces) to the Draka border. The Draka knew that attacking the Voroshilov Line head on was suicidal. So they did something unexpected, that looked utterly stupid in strategy books. They marched through Caucasus.

-

AN : ATL, Italy and her Balkan protectorates, France, Spain and Portugal massively contribute, while Japan concentrate her forces (for Japanese numbers, I took the numbers of the IJA during the war in China OTL, and for Chinese auxiliaries numbers, I took the numbers of the nationalist armies OTL).


	16. Chapter 16

The RLA (Russian Liberation Army), led by Andrei Vlasov and by the Committee for the Liberation of Russia, and the liberation armies for Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus and Ukraine, started the war with 1,2 million men in total. It seems much for an army made of refugees. But there were millions of Russian refugees abroad, especially in Europe, because of the two decades of suffering endured by Russia. Those people had, often, ended up depressed (if not in despair), seeing their country sinking so low. There were similar armies for Ukraine, Belarus, Baltic and Caucasus countries.

Göring (with the help of Pétain, Mussolini, Franco and Horthy) had "interned" massively Russian refugees, througout Europe, in concentration camps, covering this with a racist rhetoric against Slavs. Russian refugees were accused of being alcoholics, criminals and troublemakers. This pleased the Nazi Party, because the rank-and-file Nazi hated and despised Slavs as inferior.

Germany organized a massive maskirovka operation. Russian refugees were transferred to concentration camps, which looked terrible (on purpose), and then, boarded other trains and "disappeared".  
Oskar Schindler was used as a pawn. He believed, truly, that the Russians would be exterminated, and managed to extract thousands of them to Britain, along with pictures of beaten or dead men and women, and extermination "showers". This made the headlines in the West. Westerners were both incredulous (it seemed too horrible to happen) and appalled by the Nazi brutality. There were voices advocating a new war against Germany, but it didn't happen. There was not enough evidence and political will for that. Britain and the USA settled on a total embargo on Germany, until Germans proved that the rumors were false.

Göring and the other Nazi dignitaries denied everything, but their denials were carefully crafted, to appear like they were guilty. Soon, the entire world believed that Germany was exterminating her Russian refugees or delivering them to Stalin. Pétain, Franco, Mussolini and Horthy participated in this lie too.

The real truth (known to the barest minimum of people) was that the "disappeared" Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusans and Balts were transferred to training camps, where they lived comfortably. And they could (only if they wanted) join liberation armies for their homelands.  
Only a few (mostly Jews or left-wingers) were delivered to Stalin, to placate him.

When Barbarossa started, there were 1,2 million of men serving in the liberation armies, and 3 million of other men training to join them. And as Barbarossa started, the maskirovka operation was revealed. Everyone had a sigh of relief, as the rumors about extermination weren't true. And many people (even in Britain and the USA) admired the Germans (who had managed the greatest maskirovka of the history) and laughed with good heart.

Not a few Germans and other Europeans (horrified of what their governments were supposedly doing) breathed sighs of relief as well.

Germany was also looking good, caring for the plight of the Russian people and fighting for them. Embargos were immediately repealed.

This operation would yield important results :

1 ) It cemented the belief (in Stalin and within the CPUS) that Germany was a faithful ally.

2 ) The liberation armies would help to fight the Red Army, and more importantly, to get Russian, Ukrainian, Balt and Belarusan civilians, soldiers and officers to join the Axis, to abandon Stalin.

3 ) It made Barbarossa more acceptable, both in Axis countries and abroad. Axis governments weren't carrying racial extermination, they were "merely" invading another country. Or rather, liberating it. In contrast, it looked actually good.

4 ) A few years later, nobody would believe rumors about extermination of the Slavs, Gypsies and Jews by Germany. Only this time, the rumors would be true...


	17. Chapter 17

The United States was the biggest power on Earth, be it in terms of demographics, military, technology or economy. It encompassed the entire North American continent, from Panama to Alaska, plus Cuba, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, the Filipinos, the Hawaii, the Samoa and Guam. And with the Eurasian War, the USA would become even bigger.

The USA were neutral, despite the wishes of President Roosevelt, who had wanted to help Britain against the Axis early on. However, since World War One, the American population was mostly committed to neutrality. After all, in the previous war, they had intervened, only to see Russian becoming a communist hellhole, Japan gobbling the entirety of China, and the Draka occupying the Middle East and Central Asia. Not to mention that their debts (from Europe) were mostly not paid. People didn't want their boys dying abroad again.

The USA may had been neutral, but they were also _prepared_. The US Navy was bigger than all other navies of the world combined. Including the Royal Navy and the IJN.

The US Army was ready to intervene in both Europe, Asia and Africa if needed, and so was the US Air Force. The USA had assumed the worst in their war plans, just in case : a war against a league of Germany, Italy, Soviet Union, the Domination and Japan. And everyone knew how prepared they were, so nobody, hopefully, would mess with them.

This military build-up was part of the New Deal. It helped the USA to recover from the Great Depression, and would continue through the Cold War, leading the standard of living of Americans to rise constantly.

The Axis did everything they could to not provoke the USA, mostly thanks to Göring and Yamamoto. In 1939, when the Polish War happened, Britain and France hurt their own reputation by trying to invade Norway and Sweden (neutrals). Germany did the same with Belgium and Netherlands next, but to the eyes of the US public, both sides were equally guilty. Then, Britain stabbed its French ally in the back, with the Brest attack. France (rightfully) declared war on Britain. As if it wasn't enough, the Eiffel Tower was badly damaged by a British bombing. American opinion didn't like the Axis, but they did sympathize with France, Norway and Sweden, while their empathy for Britain plummeted.

At the same time, there were repeated incidents around the Treaty Ports, in China. Japan and Britain blamed each other. But the Japanese were smarter : they ran a successful PR campaign in the US, pointing out that the British were in China as naked imperialists and supported terrorists. Japan even asked the USA to help finding a diplomatic solution with Britain.

Then, Japan declared war on Britain, after a final incident near Hong Kong. American opinion was divided between pro-Japanese (who thought that the British were in the wrong), and pro-British (who were either simply racist, or convinced that Japan was lying). But both sides agreed on one thing : the USA should remain out of this war.

Axis powers took great care of reassuring the USA of their intentions. Denmark and Germany negociated with the USA, who bought Iceland and Greeland, maintaining their control over the Atlantic Ocean. France and Netherlands also sold their Caribbean possessions to the USA (for a hefty sum). This proved that the Axis had no plans to threaten the US mainland or to project power in the Atlantic. Finally, Germany concentrated the submarine warfare in British territorial waters, and did her best to avoid US ships (or save the sailors if that happened). It limited the efficiency of the submarine war, but it also massively helped to maintain US neutrality. In the SE Asia, Japan was concentrating its campaign on Malaya and Myanmar, and took great care to not appear threatening to the Filipinos (or Australia).

Being so polite to the USA was a good investment. In December 1940, the Congress repealed the Cash and Carry Act. Of course, Roosevelt had to renounce his dream of Lend Lease as well.


	18. Chapter 18

The Great Depression was one of the worst economic crises in history, which had started by the 1929 Krach, in New York. The USA, the Imperial Commonwealth, Europe, the Empire of Japan, and Latin America were hit very hard. Soviet Union and the Domination, being mostly autarkic, were not. We know how it would turn in Europe and Asia.

In the USA, agricultural and industrial workers were hit the hardest, devastating economically the East Coast, the Midwest and Mexico. Most of the victims of the crisis were either Black or Latinx low-qualified people. Far-left and far-right were both rising, and the tensions were not unlike what was happening in Germany, in the last days of the Weimar Republic.

The far right was mostly made up of the Black Legion, the Ku Klux Klan, the National Union for Social Justice (Father Coughlin), and Share Our Wealth (Huey Long). Things were more complex, but basically, there was Catholic far right, and Protestant far right.

The first one, of course, had success in Québec, Mexico, Central America, and with Italian and Irish communities. Its membership was made up of Catholic Whites or white-passing Latinx.  
The second had success with WASP middle-class and working class.

Both were, of course, racist and xenophobic. Their enemies were the Blacks, the Latinx (Brown Latinx for Father Coughlin, all Latinx for the KKK), the Jews, the Asians, the Slavs, the Greeks, and communism. They believed there were "plots" to destroy American civilization. Protestant far-right hated Catholics, Italians and Irish people as well.

The main weakness of the far-right (especially the WASP far-right) was that their rhetoric sounded like German Nazis, or Draka. And that they were suspected of being linked to those countries.

Then, there was the Business Plot, in January 1933. A cabal of businessmen tried to use the Bonus Army to launch a coup. Failing, they turned to the Ku Klux Klan, the Black Legion, and Share Our Wealth, launching a "March on Washington", fashioned after the March on Rome (of Mussolini). The coup was stopped by the Bonus Army, while Smeadley Butler helped the FBI to arrest the plotters. There were rumors of German and Drakan support to the Business Plot.

This event destroyed the reputation of far-right organizations, and helped Roosevelt to win a landslide, in March 1933. Roosevelt got the unconditional support of the Communist Party of the USA, because Stalin wanted to strengthen and seduce the USA (to counter Germany, Japan and the Domination). Roosevelt, however, remained anti-communist, and managed to distance himself from the CPUSA (while still getting their support).

An often overlooked aspect of the Roosevelt era was his fight against racism, dismantling racist laws (that deprived Black, Latinx and Asian people of civic rights) and racist organizations. The Nazis and the Draka made racism unpopular, helping Roosevelt and the Civic Rights Movement.

Roosevelt also launched the Good Neighbor Policy, cultivating friendship with Latin American countries. He hoped to form a powerful pan-american bloc.

Once in power, he launched the New Deal, which would give the USA the best social protection system in the world (National Labor Relations Act, Social Security Act, Housing Act), modernize the infrastructures in the entire country, and give the USA the best and biggest navy, army and air force in the world. Roosevelt would be remembered as one of the best presidents of the USA, along with the Founding Fathers.

Both because of the New Deal, and because of the Alliance for Democracy.


	19. Chapter 19

We tend to associate the Domination of the Draka with the Third Reich and other totalitarian regimes. There is a major difference, though : the Domination was a _democracy_.

Well, a democracy for the Citizens, obviously. Serfs were barely considered human, if at all.

Apart from this "detail", the Draka had been one of the leading democracies of the world. The vote (and right to own slaves) was correlated to military service (there was no money or education condition). And given the history of the Draka, every man had to serve. In the 1860s, women were called to serve in the Auxiliary Corps. In the 1880s, women were called to do military fighting service, and got full civic rights. It came under the pressure of the Amazones and of the Pacification Campaigns.

The Amazons were a Draka feminist movement, that advocating that women could fight (hence their name), contribute to the society and enjoy full rights, like men.

The Pacification Campaigns were the conquest and enslavement of the interior of Africa. The task was so huge and costly that conscription (for men) had to be expanded to 5 years, while militias were folded into a standing army.

Anyway, the Draka were a democracy. People tend to deny and forget that, because they can't picture a true democracy doing what they did. They prefer to think that the Draka only followed their leaders and were manipulated. The truth is uglier. Their whole population knew exactly what was happening (about both wars and slavery), participated, and fully approved.

There were some contradictions among the Draka. The "left" was made up of the Liberty Party and the Justice Party. They mostly advocated to treat the Serfs with fairness and charity (but only if they behaved well), to develop foreign trade and infrastructure, and avoid expansion. A significant minority of the Left advocated treating conquered whites not as Serfs. They were the main opponents of Elvira Naldorssen, during the Bulgarian debate in 1924.

The traditional right was made up of the National Party, and the new right was made up of the Way Forward.

The National Party advocated to prepare for war against Soviet Union and Japan, ideological and racial threats to the Domination. Some wanted a preemptive war, others to fortify the borders only.

The Way Forward espoused the ideas of Elvira Naldorssen. Basically, the Draka were the Master Race, and they were to conquer the world.

In 1931, the Way Forward entered a coalition government with the National Party. The NP was then, slowly, marginalized.

The success of the Way Forward is due to several factors :

The split and enmity with Britain, and the Western embargoes

The hundreds of border incidents with Japan and Soviet Union

The rebellions in Bulgaria, Middle East, Central Asia and Xinjiang, with Western, Soviet and Japanese support

The 1927 Drakan Recession, that was caused by a combination of rebellions and embargoes.

Just like Franklin Roosevelt would reverse the economical crisis through massive military spending, nationalizations and high taxes, Edwina Palma would prepare her country for total war, save the economy, promise glory, slaves and and loot to people, and be elected several times.


	20. Chapter 20

(Trigger warning : gory and horrific details about the Draka practices. Rape, slavery, abuse and so on).

While Draka Citizens enjoyed freedom and democracy, the Serfs were not so lucky. Their entire lives were controlled, from the birth (and even before) to the death. Worse, their bodies and minds were "molded" as well. The goal was to make them as efficient, obedient and reliable as possible.

Extending Serfdom to the New Territories

"Taming" the Serfs was seen as an art, a craft, where the Draka (as individuals and as a nation) excelled, fuelling their national pride.

And they _did_ excel. They had the experience of two centuries, in "taming" Africa. Taming Arabs, Turks, Zionist colonists, Persians, Kurds, Afghans, Uighurs, Bulgarian... was seen as an harder task. Indeed, the Left and part of the National Party had wanted to treat them as subjects, but not serfs, to avoid the costs and difficulties of "taming" them.

Elvira Naldorssen and the Way Forward convinced the Draka otherwise. That they deserved a reward for fighting in WWI, and this reward was more serfs (for the State and for everyone). That they could, should and needed to fully embrace their superior nature. Superior beings don't concern themselves with compassion for inferiors, nor with practical difficulties. In fact, taming warrior (and non-black) groups was not a difficult task to be feared, but a _challenge_.

Naldorssen used the rebellions in the New Territories to push her case of enserfing everyone there. Especially the Bulgarian Rebellion, and the Afghan Rebellion (that ended with Afghanistan nearly depopulated).

The consensus about African Serfdom

Even as enserfing the inhabitants of Middle East and Central Asia was a new phenomenon, controversial at the beginning, the enserfment of African Black people had always been a total consensus within the Draka. Abolitionism almost never existed among the Citizen population, and the few Citizens that were abolitionist, often fled abroad, were labelled as "mentally deficient" or "mentally ill", or were assassinated.

Abolitionism was always associated with foreign influence. In the 19th century, it was mostly seen as a British, American and French idea. More precisely, as a _bourgeois_ Western idea. Draka saw themselves as frontiermen, who constantly fought to make Western and British civilization great and rich, but were despised and misunderstood by the ungrateful and hypocritical Westerners. As the Domination of the Draka grew more powerful, tensions rose with Britain (over autonomy), with the USA (over Draka support to the Confederates), and with France (a country hated by all Draka, be they descended from French Emigrés, English or Dutch colonists). After the Russian Revolution, abolitionism was associated with communism as well.

Educating Serf children

In practice, the lifes of the Serfs were completely organized. They were separated from their parents (who were mostly used as breeding factories). Of course, serf children with physical or mental "defects" were mostly killed. Sometimes, they were spared... and used in freak shows, or as sex slaves (some Citizens had ableist and racist rape fetishes...). Other children grew up educated jointly by Citizen and Serf teachers. Their abilities were throughly tested, allowing the State to predict jobs where they would be the best serfs (there were three "likely jobs", ranked from #1 to #3, for Serf children). Children were prepared to those jobs. They only learnt to read, write and calculate as far as it would be needed for their likely jobs, and were executed at the first suspiscion that they had forbidden knowledge.

Serf children were submitted to a regime designed to break them, using rewards, "kindness", psychological, sexual and physical abuse, with supervision from psychiatrists and psychologists, to ensure the best result : children who hated and despised themselves, valued their Masters over themselves, and depended emotionnally on them. To make the Serfs even more dependent, the Domination encouraged drug use and addiction among them.

Serf children and teenagers were put in small groups (managed jointly by a Serf and a Citizen adult), to watch them more closely. They were raised with loyalty to the Masters and the State. The Draka also encouraged competition between groups of Serfs (who were forbidden to talk to each other, and only allowed to fight each other as gladiators, for their own fun and the fun of watching Citizens).

Many people believe that the Draka were "sadistic" to their Serfs. The truth is more complex. Draka valued control, especially control over themselves and their own minds. So, for example, a master beating his serfs out of fury or sadism was frowned upon. Beatings had to happen, but only with the purpoose of making the Serfs more obedient and efficient. Never without a clear purpose.

That said, there were a class of Serfs that existed solely as punchbags and outlets, they were mostly made up of penal and disabled serfs. They were routinely mutilated, tortured, raped or killed, by Citizens who wanted to let their own stress out or who enjoying to make others suffer.

Once adult, not all Serfs were equals.

White-passing Serfs

Surprisingly, the Domination never gave real priviledges to the light-skinned or white-passing Serfs. Cleverly, Citizen teachers were encouraged to act slightly kinder to them, but at the same time, set them apart from other children (so the others would believe they were "favorites", even if they weren't, and bully them). At the same time, they were often beaten and humiliated by the Citizens, or chosen for the worst jobs. Most Citizens felt that mixed-race and/or white-passing people were an abomination, just by existing. They also thought that, since they had "some white blood", they would be more independent-minded and smart than other serfs, less submissive, and might believe themselves equal to the Citizens. So, they had to be taught and reminded constantly of their place. Not to mention, to be easily distinguished from the Citizens, those serfs had to wore a facial tatoo and special clothes.

Basically, the mixed-race and white-passing serfs in Africa were beaten, despised and hated by the Draka, while their own brothers shunned them too (believing they were priviledged and collaborators).

The conquest of the New Territories slightly made their lives better. The Draka started to think that even true whites (if they were not Draka) could end up as Serfs, and that happened in Bulgaria, while there were lots of light-skinned people in Middle East and Central Asia. So, the sight of white / white-passing serfs became common, instead of being an oddity. And with this, hatred and disgust towards them specifically lessened. They were still treated badly, but no more (and no less) than other Serfs.

Job-based unequalities among the Serfs

The unequalities between Serfs came mostly with the jobs. Those with agricultural and industrial jobs, the sex slaves and freak show slaves were treated the worst, and suffered massive casualties. They were the most "replaceable". Those who had a domestic or service job fared better. Those who suffered the least were the Gladiators and the Janissaries (some doing both jobs).  
All were under close scrutiny from the Security. The influx of white / white-passing Serfs allowed the Security to plant more and more Citizen agents within the Serfs, while there were Serf informants as well.

The Janissaries were the backbone of the Draka Army, in terms of numbers (there was roughly 4 Janissaries for 1 Citizen soldier). Of course, they were only used as infantry and in fortifications. Armored corps, anti-air defence, Air Force and Navy were Citizen-only. Janissaries were under Citizen officers, and closely watched by the Security.

The Janissaries, a slave/master "middle class"

World War I and the conquest of the New Territories forced the Domination to give a better status to the Janissaries. Many of them were contaminated by foreign ideologies and religions. There were Janissaries who became communist or anarchist. Those who converted to Christianity (and started to want equal rights, as Christians were supposed to be equal). Those who converted to Islam (and often, were influenced by Ottoman, Saudi, Persian or Afghan agents, pushing them to rebel). Janissaries saw foreign countries, and they saw people that lived in relative freedom and comfort (even when they were poor), at least compared to the Serfs. They also realized how important they were to the Domination, after losing millions of their own fighting the Ottomans, Persians, Bulgarians and other enemies, and still being deployed across the New Territories.

The 1920s Rebellions were spread through the New Territories, with support from the West, the Soviet Union and Japan. And they were contaminating the Janissaries, more and more of them defecting abroad, mutinying, deserting, killing their officers... The Draka reacted with the carrot and the stick. The stick was obvious : impalement of suspects and their wives. The carrot was allowing the Janissaries to have their own slaves and loot, if they managed to get it. Janissaries were also encouraged to denounce their own rebellious comrades.

So, basically, the Janissaries stopped rebelling, but became slaves with comfort and _with slaves of their own_. And they proved to be just as brutal and cruel as the Citizens.


	21. Chapter 21

Contrary to what most of the people believe, the Draka were not collectively psychopaths, sociopaths. They didn't have narcissistic or sadistic personnality. And, they were not "mad" either.  
Draka who had mental illnesses or disabilities were not well treated, by the way, but that's another topic.

The Draka _did_ have ethics. They respected the State, and were ready to gave their lives for the State. They put their own Serfs through hell to ensure that they never rebelled, and it was done for their own personal good as well as the good of the State.  
They didn't do anything to their Serfs. They did what was necessary to control them, no more, no less. Except for the "punchbag slaves", of course.

Some espoused a paternalistic view, as well. This view can be summed as "How the inferiors would be able to live, if we weren't there to guide and protect them, from their own nature ?".  
Basically, their attitude could be compared to a farmer's attitude, who is firm, but fair and "loving", to his animals (who he will still kill if needed).

Draka Citizens respected other Citizens. Some of them even respected the non-Draka European Whites, seeing them as fellows. Emphasis on "European" (white-passing and fair-skinned people who were not purely European in origin were not white), and on "White", which didn't include the Jews and Gypsies to them. There were also debates about the "whiteness" of the Italians, Spanish, Portuguese, Greeks and Slavs. Some Draka saw them as European, hence Whites. Some Draka saw them as "mixed" (with Arab, Turkish, Chinese, Mongol... blood), "less civilized" and "weak".

The point is, the Draka Citizens respected each other, and sometimes other Whites, as their racial equals. They were always polite to each other, and gave a special respect to older people and veterans. There were competitions between Draka villages, cities and regions, especially sport competitions. But it was always respectful. There were never, for example, Draka hooligans. When there was a fire, a hurricane, a tornado or any other natural disaster, Citizens fought it together and supported each other. Finally, Draka-on-Draka crime was nearly not existent.

Draka couples or families were the most egalitarian and respectful in the world. Any kind of abuse (sexual, psychological or physical) was forbidden and frowned upon, mostly thanks to the Amazons and other feminist groups. Husbands, wives and children all respected and supported each other.  
Women weren't forced to do the housework, either.

The only exception was when a children was disabled. Said children became a burden and a shame for the family, unable to meet expectations (from family members themselves and outside society). Moreover, since the Draka associated their own "Master Race" with superiority and strength, they always suspected that disabled children were not racially pure, that there had been miscegenation. The result was that disabled people were almost everytime rejected by their families.

People had to marry and have a compulsory number of (non-disabled) children, but it was completely accepted that marriage did not necessarily equal love, romantic or sexual attraction, or exclusivity. Extra-marital relationships (sexual, romantic or both), homosexuality and bisexuality were accepted.

Draka families could be awesome to live in. But of course, it was the Serfs who paid the price : _they_ did the housework, and _they_ suffered all the abuse.


	22. Chapter 22

TW : murder and ableist violence.

At the beginning of the 20th century, ableism was widespread in many forms (eugenism, psychiatric violence, segregation...), in Europe, North and South America, and Asia (in the Empire of Japan).

The worst ableist regimes in history, though, are the Third Reich, Soviet Union (where, basically, disabled people were left to die of hunger and cold), and the Domination of the Draka.

 **Nazism and Disabilities**

The Third Reich, basically, "euthanizes" (without their consent) every physically or mentally disabled person in Germany, its vassals and occupied territories. Aktion T4 began as soon as 1935. Nazis present it as "charity", to save poor disabled people from crappy lives.

The only exception are crippled veterans and retired people, who acquire physical disablities thanks to their age. Some hardcore Nazis wanted to kill them too, but it would have caused too much of backlash to "euthanize" well-respected family members and veterans. People with mental disabilities (whether acquired or from birth), on the other hand, are always euthanized.

The average German accepts this. If you ask them "What if it happens to you, or your loved-ones", they will answer that it is better to die than to live "like that" and "be a burden", anyway.

With the development of medical technologies and genetics, embryos are now screened, and there is compulsory abortion, if there is a risk of major physical disability (blindness, deafness...), or mental disability (schizophrenia, trisomy 21, autism...).

 **Disabled people in the Domination**

Disabled and ill Serfs were always killed (or sometimes used as sex, freak-show or "punchbag" slaves). Disabled Citizens were, in fact, not treated better. For starters, the Draka started out as frontier colony, and most of the Draka settlements were on "the Frontier" until Africa was pacified. Everyone also had to serve the State (in the military and otherwise). So, economically and pratically, there was no place for disabled people.

Ideologically, there was no place either. The Draka started out as white-supremacist, and evolved into Draka-supremacists. But all the way, they considered themselves a superior race. And there was no place for defects and "cripples" among a superior race.

A common prejudice was that "cripples" were the children of forbidden unions between Citizen females and Serf males, because of course, it could not happen to true Draka.

Like in the Reich, the one exception was for old people and crippled veterans, because they were seen as fundamentally "normal people", who had served the State and the Race (and often kept doing so, even in their state). On the other hand, people who were disabled since their birth or childhood were seen as defective, inferior and useless. This included physical, social and mental disabilities.

So, when there were blind, deaf, mute, autistic, dyslexic... children or teenagers, they were separated from their family, and joined the ranks of the Serfs. When it happened to a baby or small children, it didn't create too much problems. Families often pretended that their child was "dead", and everybody pretended to believe it. Or they simply didn't talk about it.

Things got complicated when a child or teenager was diagnosed later with a disability. For example, visually impaired (but not blind) children. Or autistic children who had not been spotted immediately. Or teenagers who became schizophrenic. And so on.

The lives of those late-diagnosed disabled children and teenagers was often a tragedy. They had managed to hide their disability, to adapt, to "pass", at the cost of desperate efforts. And then, they ended up diagnosed anyway, because they failed in school, in sports, in military service, in social interactions, or because (for many gifted people) they thought too much by themselves, challenging the dominant ideology and social codes.

Life was very free and awesome for Draka children... as long as they were able-bodied and neurotypical. Children were free to play, to fight and to do what they wanted in their free time, as long as they met certain expectations :

being physically strong

being morally "strong" (which excluded, for example, oversensitive or overempathic people)

being good at sports (including team sports), hunting and combat

being good at school

interacting socially in a proper way, with adults and with other children

No important failure was allowed in those areas.

Disabled children and teenagers (if not diagnosed very early), were discovered later, when their family, other children and adults thought of them as "troublemakers", "freaks", "weaklings", "retards", "nerds"...

For example, there were dyslexic children who failed at schoo, dyspraxic children who failed at sports, autistic children who failed at learning "correct" social interactions, gifted children who were oversensitive (and considered "weak") or who questioned things and disobeyed too much, visually impaired children who failed hunting or sports, and so on.

Even their own parents, brothers and sisters often found them exasperating, disappointing, or worse. Having a disabled children was also a shame for the family. There were suspiscions on the other family members to be themselves "weaklings" or "miscegenated". This led the families to be the worst bullies for disabled children and teenagers.

Then, the dreaded diagnosis followed. Some families moved abroad (with their disabled children). Most of the time, though, the family rejected the disabled children (and let him / her become a Serf). Often, the parents quietly asked the Security to take away the disabled children, and then pretended that he had died.

Adults who developed PTSD, anxiety, depression and similar conditions, and could not be easily and quickly cured, were euthanized, both "for their own good" and because they proved to be weaklings.


	23. Chapter 23

Soviet Union expected the Draka to try to attack through the Voroshilov Line (which separated Kazakhstan from Russia), using their superior numbers of soldiers (especially the expendable Janissaries), artillery pieces and planes to win, through attrition. It made sense given the previous Draka strategies. During World War I, the Draka had invaded the Ottoman Empire through the Sinai, Kuwait City, and the coasts of Palestine, Lebanon and Anatolia, despite the Ottomans having overly fortified those areas to prevent this very eventuality. The Ottomans had also mobilized their entire population to resist the Draka (including many women and children), and fought fanatically.

At the same time, the Draka invaded Persia (through the southern coast), despite Persia having prepared itself too. The official pretext was that there were German and Ottoman activities in Persia.  
As the Draka invasion began, Russia and Britain stopped any offensive action against the Ottomans, and even stopped their blocus, basically freeing the Ottomans to fully defend themselves. The Draka still prevailed against the Ottoman Empire, Persia, and soon Bulgaria and Afghanistan, through sheer numbers and determination to win, at any cost.

So, in 1941, the Soviets expected the Draka to repeat this strategy against the Voroshilov Line. They were wrong. The Draka Air Force (DAF) concentrated its offensive against Soviet Caucasus, destroying oil and gas production sites, cutting pipelines, bombing Red Army units and bases, and beating the Red Air Force. The Draka were in a superior position : their fighters and bombers were the second best (after American planes) and more numerous (they had concentrated half of their entire air force on the Soviet front).

After two weeks of massive bombings, Citizen Centuries (made up of 10,000 Citizens each) made airborne landings in Erevan, Koumaïri, Gandja, Baku, Poti and Tbilisi. Those were combined with sea landings in Baku and Salyan (Caspian Sea), Batum, Ankalya and Sokumi (Black Sea). The Soviets won the Battles of Ganja, Koumaïri and Poti, but the Draka won the Battles of Erevan, Baku, Tbilisi, Salyan, Ankalya and Sokumi. This cleared the way for further landings (through air and sea), allowing the Draka to encircle and destroy Soviet pockets in Ganja and Kumaïri.

As the Draka moved to North Caucasus, the Eurasian War took an ugly turn. In reaction to the mass impalements (in South Caucasus), the Soviets started to use chemical weapons against the Draka Army, the first use occurring during the Battle of Akhalgori (in the north of Georgia)...


	24. Chapter 24

The Soviets had always known that, compared to the Draka, they would have technological and numerical inferiority, and that the Draka didn't care about their losses as much as they should : Citizens were ready to die for the State and the Race, while Janissaries were expendable. The Soviets also knew that death was better than the Yoke (but they still had prepared enough gas masks for their soldiers and civilians near the Draka border).

So, the Soviets researched weapons to level the playing field (using both native research, and their spy network in Germany, Britain and the USA). Chemical and radiological weapons. Radiological weapons were basically a special class of chemical weapons, using the lethal effects of plutonium to cause mass death and area denial. Radiological weapons were kept in reserve, as the last of the last resorts.

In retaliation from Draka impalements, chemical weapons (Sarin and Tabun) would be used with abandon, though, carried by kamikaze planes through Xinjiang, Kazakhstan (from the Voroshilov Line), Anatolia and Persia (from Caucasus), to Draka military bases. In one month of the beginning of Barbarossa, 130,000 Soviet soldiers and 924,000 Draka soldiers (Citizens or Janissaries) had died.

At the same time, a still unknown number of Spetsnatz commandos entered the New Territories, while the last of the Red Air Force dropped hundreds of thousands of rifles (with small ammo stocks) and knifes througout Persia and Anatolia.

The bad news for the Draka was that they had _not_ tamed the New Territories yet. Pacification Campaigns had ended in 1927, and the Draka hadn't expanded their Serf Education system to the New Territories yet. Doing it would require to build millions of schools, with millions of teachers. It would require to separate dozens of millions of children to their parents, which would undoubtedly spark a new massive rebellion. Hence, the plan was to do it very slowly, starting with Palestine and slowly expanding the system through the Territories. It had taken a century to tame Africa, it would take another century for Middle East. It would also take decades to upgrade the Middle East and Central Asia infrastructures to Drakan standards. And, in the Interwar, it was low priority. The main priorities were to quell current rebellions, stabilize the economical situation, and prepare for the next conquest war.

Those choices were very logical. But the result was that, in June-July 1941, the New Territories were not tamed. Serfs living there either had known freedom, or their parents and grandparents had. And they had hoped for twenty years that either Soviet Union, Europe or someone else would liberate them.

So, as Drakan bases were hit by chemical weapons, Drakan officials were assassinated by Spetsnatz, and weapons were spread, rebellion spread again through Anatolia, Persia, Kazakhstan and Xinjiang.

The other problem was, once again, the Voroshilov Line. The Line had been equipied to resist chemical attacks, and to stop aerial attacks (even from the superior Drakan Air Force). On the other side, the Draka were not prepared to deal with Soviet chemical attacks. This would force the Draka to run into the Voroshilov Line and try to bring it down, the very thing they had wanted to avoid...


	25. Chapter 25

As the Southern Front was becoming uglier each day, the Western and Far-Eastern Fronts were almost quiet (comparatively). Not only Soviet forces were inferior in numbers, equipment, doctrine, and quality of troops and officers. But they lacked morale. Finally, the Axis invasion was a semi-surprise, and put Stalin into panic during the first days, further crippling Soviet response.

Stalin soon ordered the evacuation of the Soviet industry behind the Urals, while the Voroshilov Line had to hold at any cost. Japan would likely gobble Eastern Siberia if they could, but go no further, while Germany and her allies would be stopped by the Urals. So, as long as the Voroshilov Line held, Soviet Union could hold too in Western and Central Siberia.

So, the Far Eastern Front was entirely abandoned, with Soviet troops pulling out and going to the Southern Front. Stalin knew that the USA really didn't want the Japanese, Germans, Draka, or their puppets to control Kamtchatka, Magadan and Chukotka, directly facing Alaska. So, he cut an emergency deal with the USA (which the Congress narrowly approved), selling them those territories (Treaty of Anchorage). And so, West Alaska was born. In return for the selling of West Alaska, Stalin got a constant supply of oil, gas, food and medicine.

Tokyo was not happy about the Treaty of Anchorage, but continued to be as polite and cordial as possible to the USA, never provoking them. While the US took possession of their new territories (and immediately started to build emeregency ports, roads and railroads, to supply Soviet Union faster), Japan occupied the south of the Far-Eastern and Siberian districts of Russia.


	26. Chapter 26

Barbarossa started the 22 May 1941. One month later, the Army Group North had liberated the Baltic Countries and were meeting the Scandinavians at Leningrad, while the Army Group Center had taken Minsk, and the Army Group South had taken Kiev and Odessa. The Axis had managed to destroy the (skeleton) Red Air Force squadrons on the ground, before deploying their own combined air forces to maximal effect, cutting the Soviet logistical network, bombing Soviet units, dropping leaflets, weapons and commandos. As Barbarossa started, there was a massive uprising in Baltic countries, Belarus and Ukraine, further crippling the Soviet response.

And as Axis forces advanced, Ukrainian, Belarusan and Balt volunteers were flocking (thousands per day) to enlist in the Liberation Armies, ready to avenge their homelands and ensure Stalin would never threaten them again. There was also a trickle of Russian defectors, but it was limited by the NKVD control and by the Draka-German alliance (the average Russian knew how evil the Draka were).

Then, Stalin made a fatal mistake. Stalin wanted the Soviet industry evacuated behind the Urals, and Soviet Union to hold off Draka and German assaults as a fortress, using the Urals and Voroshilov Line (hopefully, with American help). To buy time for the evacuation, Stalin gave only one order to the Western Front forces : **Fight to the Death. No Retreat.**

He knew that his Western Front forces were low-quality troops and officers, that could then be sacrificed. That would have worked... with chess pawns. However, as much as Stalin forgot it, his troops were people. People who didn't want to die needlessly. People who utterly hated him and his government. People who, for many of them, hoped that the European Axis would liberate them. As Stalin gave his famous order, the trickle of defections, desertions and mutinies became a torrent.

Not only soldiers and low-ranking officers were defecting, but higher-ranking officers started to defect as well. Worse, political commissars (supposed to be the ones watching the troops) were starting to defect as well. Those men were convinced communists, but they also saw the writing on the wall and hated Stalin as everyone else.

Green militias were starting to re-constitute themselves, mostly made up of women (since men had been conscripted), througout Russia (with airdropped German weapons). And even Stalin knew there was no way the Red Army soldiers would fire on women (who might be their own wives, mothers, sisters...).

As the Army Group Center was approaching Moscow in August 1941, trouble was brewing...


	27. Chapter 27

On the 19 August 1941, the Axis was less than fifty kilometers from Moscow. Stalin was stubborn about holding the city and remaining there. Either the city (and himself) would die, or they would stop the German invasion, and then, Germans would find themselves overstretched.

The first problem was that he had ordered a new round of purges (because of the mass defections), carried out by the NKVD and the Red Guard. The second problem was that Beria was ready to betray Stalin and cut his own deal with the Axis. The third problem was that the Red Army had enough of Stalin and knew that the Western Front was lost. If they wanted to stop the Draka, they had to capitulate to the Germans.

The result was that Zhukov and Beria launched simultaneous coups, and as Germans approached, there was three-way fighting between the Red Guard, the NKVD and the Red Army (supported by the population). Of course, the Red Army had the upper hand, but when the Germans arrived, Moscow was already devastated.

Stalin tried to flee in disguise, but was spotted by an old woman, whose entire family had been deported to the gulags because of him. She may have been old, but hatred and despair made her stronger, so she rushed Stalin, hit him with her purse, and tackled him to the ground, while yelling. As Stalin was trying to push the old woman off, other civilians arrived and saw what was happening. The body of Joseph Stalin was never retrieved. Or, to be more exact, his entire body was never retrieved. But some parts were...


	28. Chapter 28

Göering would have gladly accepted a peace with Soviet Union (Zhukov was ready to capitulate). But, it would have tipped his hand to the Draka. He was supposed to remain their ally in Russia, so they wouldn't expect German opposition in Italy.

Göering and Zhukov secretly met, on the 20 August, near Moscow. Zhukov agreed with the "Phony War" plan.  
Officially, there was a ceasefire (and Germans stopped their advance) waiting for negociations. The Draka, of course, didn't respect the ceasefire.

Then, on the 24 August, Göering and Vlasov (along with representatives from the Draka, Japan and European Axis countries) met Zhukov. Of course, Drakan demands and the Zhukov/Vlasov conflict caused the failure of negociations, which ended on the 27.

The week of ceasefire had been used by Zhukov to pull out the Red Army divisions eastwards, and then through the Urals. It was the true purpose of the ceasefire.

As the ceasefire expired, the Heer, the RLA and other Axis armies went eastwards (stopping at the Urals), and southwards (invading the Caucasus, where Red Army remnants surrendered). German and Draka troops met in the South Caucasus.

To avoid Draka suspiscions, Göering coordinated his invasion of Caucasus with them, the Lutfwaffe destroying Soviet chemical stockpiles in Grozny and Vladikavkaz, giving air support to Draka airborne units, and dropping food supplies to them. Then, Germany delivered political commissars (who had ordered the chemical strikes) to the Draka.

Now, Germans and their allies were consolidating their control west of the Urals. Only the Southern Front remained active.


	29. Chapter 29

During Barbarossa, the Axis had well orchestrated its propaganda, getting Red Cross representatives, Western diplomats and journalists to see the suffering caused by Stalin (hunger, disease, fear, rapes, mass deportation, destroyed families...) and the joy of people, to be liberated.

Persecutions against Catholic and Orthodox priests were used to further demonize Stalin, leading to the Vatican officially endorsing Barbarossa. As the Pope was calling Barbarossa a _Crusade_ , Latin American countries all symbolically declared war on Soviet Union (less than a month before the Fall of Stalin).

There had been debates in the British Parliament and the US Congress about the war in Russia. People were relieved that there were no extermination camps, but Churchill was advocating support for Russia. Warhawks didn't want Germany, Japan and the Domination to control Eurasia entirely.

Those debates soon stopped. On one hand, the speed of German advances and the quick collapse of Russia (on the Western Front) made clear that Germany had won. On the other hand, Germany had shown itself as a liberator. It was now politically impossible to intervene on the side of "the murderers" (Soviets), against "the liberators" (Germans), be it through direct military intervention, lend-lease (to Russia), embargoes (on the Axis) or anything else.

British opinion came to support Barbarossa, very reluctantly though (because of their own recent war with the Axis). Australian and New Zealander opinion fully supported Barbarossa, for moral reasons (both countries were also happy that Japan was clearly looking northwards, not southwards). American opinion was even more enthusiastic, from the left to the far right. The Catholic League (prevalent in Québec and Mexico), and the German, Italian, Russian and Ukrainian communities, of course, were the main supporters.

By exploiting the very real crimes of Stalin and his government, Germany had cemented the peace with the West. The propaganda campaign also made Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusans and Balts even more inclined to support the invaders. Last, but not least, it was useful at home, to convince Axis populations that it was a necessary battle between Good and Evil.

The last step of the propaganda campaign was the Moscow Trials. After the fall of the city, dozens of thousands of NKVD agents, Red Guard soldiers and officers, Party members, political commissars... would be tried. Trials would be watched worldwide. The most followed trials would be the trial of Lavrenty Beria.

It would reveal the mass crimes of the regime : organized famine, genocide (against the pro-Green villages and towns during the two Civil Wars), use of chemical and biological weapons on civilian population, mass rape policies... It would also reveal the personal crimes of Beria, who was one of the worst rapists of the world.


	30. Chapter 30

As rebellion was spreading in Anatolia, Persia, Kazakhstan and Xinjiang, the Draka reacted in their usual way : senseless brutality. They deployed, jointly, armored corps, infantry corps (both Janissaries and Citizens), and air force (for carpet bombing) against rebel villages or cities, and turned them into rubble. They used chemical weapons (targeting humans or livestock). They poisoned the water or the fields.

However, the rebels didn't stop. The Draka thought that, as inferior races, they would succomb to despair, but they fought back with greater strength. They would weep, they would pray, they would say goodbye to their loved ones, and then throw themselves without fear or hesitation at the very face of death itself, never surrendering. When they ran out of rifles and ammunition, they used pitchforks and sticks. When they ran out of pitchforks and sticks, they used knives. And when they ran out of knives, they used their bare hands.

Despite the Directorate of Security best efforts, images of their fighting got out of the Domination, and were spread worldwide. People admired the sheer courage and dignity of the Central Asians and Middle Easterners. In fact, even many _Citizens_ had grudging respect and admiration for their enemies.

And as surviving rebels fled their home region (walking for hundreds of kilometers despite lacking food), they spread the news to other districts. Soon, the Turkmens, Tajiks, Kirghizs, Uzbeks, Iraqis and Syrians were starting to rebel as well. The Middle Eastern Rebellion was tying millions of soldiers : two millions in Persia, one million in Central Asia (including Afghanistan), one million in Xinjiang, one million in Anatolia, one million in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. And it was killing thousands of soldiers per day.

Worse, the rebellion (combined with the Soviet chemical strikes) was disrupting the Draka economy. The Domination of the Draka, being autarkic, had come to rely on the resources of the Middle East. Persia was producing oil, iron ore, bauxite, aluminium, coal, zinc, lead, uranium, copper, gold and cement. Central Asia was producing natural gas, oil, copper, lead, tungsten, zinc, aluminium, gold, silver, chromium, wolfram, lead and manganese. Xinjiang was producing oil, gas, salt, soda, borax, gold, jade and coal.  
Last but not least, Central Asia and Xinjiang were cotton producers, while Xinjiang and Persia were agricultural and fishing producers.

All those resources were necessary for the Domination war effort and for their regular civilian economy. In theory, the Domination could have done well with just African resources, but in practice, their economical organization was based on resources from both Africa and the New Territories, especially for the war effort, and for the needs of the Citizen colonists in Asia. The Domination couldn't afford to reorganize their entire economy in the middle of the war.

Archon Edwina Palma was secretly worried about the turn of the Eurasian War. She feared to be the first Archon that would lose territories (and not just some godforsaken land, but the entire New Territories), and plunge the Domination back into economical crisis. She also feared for her own image and her own career, and hated that feeling of losing control of events. She gave two important orders.

The current situation of the Drakan Army

The Domination included Africa, Madagascar and the New Territories. Africa was divided between the Core (south and east), the Police Zone (north), the Center District and the West District.

At the time, there were :

8 million soldiers assuming garrison and anti-rebellion duties in the New Territories.

1 million soldiers guarding the Draka-Japanese border in Xinjiang

4 million guarding the Indian border.

4 million soldiers guarding the coasts on the Mediterannean Sea

7 million on the Atlantic coast

7 million on the Indian coast

500,000 on Madagascar coasts.

1 million garrisoning the interior of Madagascar

12 million garrisoning the Core

9 million garrisoning the Police Zone

5 million garrisoning the District Center

5 million garrisoning the District West

600,000 garrisoning the interior of Bulgaria

500,000 guarding Bulgarian borders and coasts

13 million deployed on the Southern Front, facing the Voroshilov Line

The Drakan Army numbered 85 million soldiers in total. Those soldiers were either enlisted Citizens, conscripts (18-23 years) or Janissaries.

Palma decided that there was no risk of Serf rebellion in the Core, the Police Zone and Madagascar, which had been tamed for more than a century (Egypt had been conquered in 1807, the Barbary States in 1815, Madagascar in 1825). Risk was slightly higher in the Center and West districts, which had been conquered in 1860-1890. And there was no risk of outside invasion in the Core or Madagascar.

The two orders of Archon Palma

So, Palma decided to send almost all garrison units from the Core, Madagascar and the Police Zone to fight the Red Army. The New Territories were also temporarily "abandoned" to the rebels (but still bombed by the DAF daily). Coastal defence units in the Core and Madagascar, and garrison units in the Center and West Districts were halved. To not leave the Core and Police Zone totally ungarrisoned, Archon Palma ordered that young people (14-17 years) and older people (above 60) to assume garrison duties. It would easily suffice.

That freed up 39 million soldiers, for two objectives.

1 ) Palma wanted the Voroshilov Line pierced, at any costs. Then, Soviet Union would be invaded by the Drakan Army and Air Force with impunity and forced to capitulate. To alleviate the current crisis, Russia would be offered to keep her "independence" (under Drakan protectorate of course), instead of being outright annexed. The Draka wouldn't have to invade and occupy the entirety of Asian Russia in one go (which would have strained their logistics and numbers). In exchange for this "independence", Russia would have to provide shipments of Serfs and of resources, alleviating the current crisis. And while Russia would be under control, the Draka would be able to focus their undivided attention on the Middle Eastern rebellion.

So, right now, Palma sent 30 million soldiers to the Southern Front, in addition to the 21 million soldiers currently facing the Voroshilov Line.

2 ) The remaining 9 million of soldiers would be used elsewhere, in _Operation Gladio_. The invasion of Italy and the New Roman Empire...


	31. Chapter 31

In August 1941, after the Fall of Stalin, the Axis was clearly winning. The allies of Germany had not been ready to commit major numbers of soldiers to a long occupation of Russia, only to participate to a knock-out blow against the Soviet Union.

So, as the Germans were reaching the Urals and occupying the northern Caucasus, and the Scandinavians were consolidating their control over Leningrad, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Hungary, Slovakia and the New Roman Empire were pulling out the majority of their troops. Germans themselves were reducing their presence as well. In October 1941, European Russia would only be occupied by 2 million of Axis soldiers (counting all nationalities), with the support of the Russian Liberation Army. The Axis forces garrisoned the major cities and strategic points, while the RLA patrolled the countryside and gave support where needed. Among those soldiers, there were 800,000 German elite soldiers, positioned in the Caucasus...

Göring still wanted to make Russia, Crimea, Ukraine, Belarus and Poland a _Lebensraum_ , and to _reduce_ their population. But, currently, the main threat was the Domination, which was poised to invade Italy. So, the Generalplan Ost could wait for the final victory. Not to mention that many Slavs would be killed fighting the Draka under German orders, so why bother to start occupying and killing them now ? Better to fight the Draka (and let the Russians do as much fighting as possible), and only then turn their gaze to European Russia.


	32. Chapter 32

On the 28 October, the Domination of the Draka declared war on the New Roman Empire. At the same time, _Operation Gladio_ started. It would be an invasion of Sicily and the south of Italy.

Gladio had a smaller "cousin", _Operation Sparta_ , an invasion of Greece, Serbia and Romania (through Bulgaria), which were part of the Empire.

The first step, before invading Sicily and Italy proper, was to destroy the Regia Marina and the Regia Aeronautica. It would be the hardest part : the Drakan Navy had always been the weakest part of Draka military. The Regia Marina had been constantly expanded and upgraded during the Fascist era, because Mussolini dreamed of the New Roman Empire and because of the Draka potential threat.

The first battles occurred at sea, around Malta and the Pelagie Islands (Lampedusa, Lampione and Linosa), which were heavily guarded by the Regia Marina and the Regia Aeronautica.  
Guarding Malta, Italy had one aircraft carrier, four battleships ( _Giulio Cesare_ , _Vittorio Veneto_ , _Caio Dulo_ and _Littorio_ ), ten heavy cruisers and twenty destroyers.  
Guarding the Pelagie Islands, Italy had two aircraft carriers, two battleships, seven heavy cruisers and fifteen destroyers.

This battle was mostly a diversion from the Draka. The Draka were indeed landing in Sicily (Palermo) and in the south of Italy (Salerno, Taranto, Reggio de Calabre and Catanzaro). At the same time, the Draka were attacking the Aegean Fleet (from Anatolia), leading to the Battle of Crete and the Battle of Dodecanese. Finally, Drakan fighter/bomber squadrons were entering Italy, Greece, Serbia and Romania, to destroy the Regia Aeronautica (in the air or, better, on the land).

The Draka plan was sound on paper, counting on the numerical inferiority of the Regia Marina and Regia Aeronautica, to inflict crippling defeats on the Italians in the Aegean Sea, at Malta and the Pelagie Islands. Then, even if the Drakan Navy was crippled too, the Drakan Air Force would suffice to bring infantry and armored corps to Italy, while the Balkans would be invaded through land.

There would be a little problem in this plan : uninvited guests crashed the party...


	33. Chapter 33

The Draka battle plan was simple. The Draka Army had to get as close as possible to the Voroshilov Line, and bring the walls down with their artillery pieces. It would be the infantry (with horses and Serfs carrying the artillery pieces) alone, because no tanks or armored vehicles could get through this terrain. The assault began on the 4 October.

They would have to go through ten kilometers of trenches, minefields, swamps and barbed wire, while wearing gas masks. The Soviets were quietly waiting for them, at the feet of the Voroshilov Line. The majority of the Draka soldiers didn't even get that far. Those who did were killed by rockets (launched constantly by the Katyushas), or by Soviet infantry.  
At the same time, the Drakan Air Force was harrying the Line as well.

No quarter was given by either side, and survivors of this battle would describe it as Hell on Earth.

The Soviets had the best possible defensive position, but the Draka had numbers. They had deployed 51 million soldiers, in total, and they were attacking in waves, day and night. And attrition was taking its toll on Soviet soldiers and stockpiles (of rockets, rifles, ammunition, Katyushas rocket-launchers...).

On the 27 October, the Draka got desperate to win, and used kamikaze planes to breach the Line. They succeeded to bring down the Line at Oral, Khromtau, Petropavl, Oskemen, Yiming and Karamay. Immediately, Drakan efforts concentrated on securing those breaches (there were still Soviet soldiers trying to stop them), and then enlarging the breaches.

On the 30 october, new breaches were created at Aqtöbe and Iermak, while the Draka had managed to go through the breaches at Oral and Petropavl, and then bring down more sections of the Line from behind, creating wide breaches (the widest being 7 kilometers). The main advantage of the Draka was that the Red Air Force had been destroyed, so once the Line was down, they totally owned the air.

So, on the 1st November, they were very surprised to see squadrons of fighters coming from the north...


	34. Chapter 34

When the Draka launched Operation Sparta, they only deployed 100,000 men to Serbia and Greece each, but they deployed 300,000 men to Romania, because Romania was the most powerful (militarily) of the three and held oil reserves (at Ploiesti).

Being the richest of the three countries, Romania was also the most protected, having built a line of fortifications, trenches and barbed wire on her southern border. Romanian Army numbered 1,237,000 men, and Italy had deployed 120,000 men. Finally, the country was protected by the Romanian Air Force and Regia Aeronautica.

So, the Draka chose to invade through the coast, using their Black Sea fleet. They landed at Constanta, Mangalia and Sulina (80,000 men landed initially at each point, followed by a trickle of 12,000 men per day). At the same time, airborne landings were done at Turnu, Giurgiu and Calarasi, right behind the Romanian lines of defence (12,000 men landing at each point), while the Draka Army attacked through the line of defence at those points, managing to take those three points.

The Draka expected the Romanians and Italians to rush at the six landing points. Instead, the Romanians and Italians ignored the landings on the coast (except Sulina, which was close to the border), and bypassed Turnu, Giurgiu and Calarasi. They entered Bulgarian territory and took Ruse, Svishtov, Belene, Nikopol, Oriahovo, Kolotuzy and Gramaha, beating the minor Drakan garrisons stationed there, before encircling and destroying the pockets of Turniu, Giurgiu, Calarasi and Sulina.

The Italians and Romanians may had ignored the coastal landings of Constanta, Mangalia and Sulina, but that didn't mean the Draka had free reign there, for the Wehrmacht (with Hungarian and Slovakian units) and the Luftwaffe were arriving...


	35. Chapter 35

The Draka had deployed 100,000 men to invade Serbia, which was only defended by 50,000 Italian and 150,000 Serbian soldiers. The Draka thrust was aimed at Skopje, Vranje, Pirot and Negotin. The Draka did reach those cities, and found them abandoned by the civilian population (which had taken arms and hidden in the countryside, ready for guerilla). They found themselves forced to fight for every street and every house, and they lost 9,200 men at Skopje, 4,873 men at Vranje, 10,178 men at Pirot and 6,742 men at Negotin. More importantly, those urban battles slowed them down, allowing Axis reinforcements to arrive in time.

The Draka were beaten at Kitchevo (Macedonia), by Italian, Serbian, Montenegrin and Albanian forces. They won a pyrrhic victory at Nis, where they also faced Italian, Serbian Montenegrin and Albanian forces. They suffered a total defeat at Smederevo, where German, Hungarian and Italian forces were waiting for them.

At the same time, the Axis combined air forces (from Germany, Scandinavia, Italy, Romania and Greece) were taking the upper hand, against the DAF, whose numbers were not sufficient (the Draka had not expected to fight the Luftwaffe and Scandinavian Air Force). And they were starting to drop weapons, ammunition, leaflets and commandos in Bulgaria...


	36. Chapter 36

The Draka attacked Greece through land, air and sea. Crete and the Dodecanese were defended by the Hellenic Navy and the Regia Aeronautica. The Hellenic Navy had undergone modernization, getting one Bismarck-class battleship and four Greyhound-class destroyers.

The Drakan Navy won the battles of Crete and Dodecanese, sinking the Greek and Italian squadrons, but it was a pyrrhic victory, since the Draka had themselves lost eight destroyers, five battleships, nine heavy cruisers and five light cruisers (in Crete), and one aircraft carrier (the _DSS Adelbert_ ), four battleships and eight light cruisers in the Dodecanese. The _Adelbert_ was lost to kamikaze attacks (from damaged fighters).

The Draka started to invade Crete, the Dodecanese, the Cyclades and Sporades through airborne landings, but faced heavy fortifications, well-equipied Greek and Italian units, and a population willing to fight to the death. Many inhabitants were Turk refugees who had fled in 1918, or their children.

At the same time, the Draka were invading Western Thrace, from Edirne and Kesan. They won pyrrhic victories at Komotini and Xanthi, but took Alexandropolous easily (with naval support). Then, they took the island of Tasos, close to the mainland, allowing them to take Kavala, and won the Battle of Crénidès, thanks to a pincer movement (with forces coming from Kavala and from Xanthi). Finally, they managed to take Drama (in a pyrrhic victory).

The Draka were forced to pause and wait for reinforcements, before their thrust to Thessaloniki...


	37. Chapter 37

On the 1st November, the Draka garrison of Ceuta found itself shelled (from Gibraltar), while the Luftwaffe airdropped 9,000 men in the city. At the same time, a combined fleet of four battleships, two heavy cruisers, five light cruisers, ten destroyers and five torpedo boats engaged the Draka squadron (made up of two battleships and twelve destroyers), with Axis aerial and submarine support. The ships were Spanish, French and German.

The aerial and submarine superiority of the Axis carried the day. The Axis lost one battleship (another had to be repaired), one heavy cruiser, four destroyers and three torpedo boats, but the Draka squadron was destroyed, and Ceuta was taken.

Then, the Luftwaffe, Armée de l'Air and Ejército del aire started to airlift an expeditionary corps of 130,000 men into Morocco.


	38. Chapter 38

As soon as the war was declared, the Heer and the RLF attacked the Draka garrisons at Erevan, Baku, Tbilisi and Akhalgori, with the Luftwaffe opening the way. The DAF was weak in this area, with most of the force being either kept at home (for defence), sent to Italy and the Balkans, or sent to the Voroshilov Line. The Axis also had superior numbers. The Draka forces in the area numbered 210,000, while the German forces numbered 400,000, and the RLF had 900,000 men. The Draka had better equipment, though. Morale was roughly equal, with both the Draka and Russians ready to fight to the last.

The assault on Erevan, Baku, Tbilisi and Akhalgori was a total success, and was followed by more difficult battles at Salyan, Ankalya, Sokumi, Tbilisi and Gandja, where the Draka were well-entrenched and had started to dig tunnels (to avoid airstrikes). Most of the battles happened in forests, tunnels and canyons, or were urban battles, without air support, and with soldiers of both sides being so close that they almost fought hand-to-hand. Draka and Russian both used suicide-bombers on the other side.

The Draka managed to hold the line until the winter and the redeployment of DAF squadrons, which stopped any Axis advance. The battle of the Caucasus would continue during the winter, but be a long and grinding affair.


End file.
